I have a second blog, Writopia which focuses on Dan Brown's pattern of falsehoods and embellishment of his personal achievements.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

The More We Look, The More We Find

Somebody at Random House should pick up on the fact that every time we have to do a new legal filing, we take another look at things and we find more and more infringements.

That should give them a clue as to where this is all heading. There is a LOT more like the new material below including sentence structure, word choices etc.

For example?

We're pretty familiar with the remarkable chain of IDENTICALITIES between Code and Daughter regarding the gold key, Zurich bank etc. That latter sequence has been around for a while. But when we prepared the latest set of legal filings, John Olsson and one of our other experts looked at it again and found even more. The sequence, below, has the new similarities in bold italics.

In Da Vinci Code and Daughter of God, the following sequence of events takes place precisely as presented in BOTH books and are identical in events, pacing, tone and sequence in both books:

A slain curator of art leaves a gold key,

Concealed in a work of art,

Painted on wood.

That work of art is named for the divine feminine at the center of the book.

The gold key is not a traditional key that opens a tumbler. Indeed, owing to gold's softness and malleability, a key made of it is patently impractical and, for that reason, not employed by banks, Swiss or otherwise.

This unique gold key is left (with no instruction) for the book's heroine

Who is, herself, a symbol of and related to the divine feminine.

The gold key allows access (but does not turn a lock) to a safe deposit box in a Zurich bank.

>

At the Zurich bank, the Protagonists are met by an elderly old world Banker.>

>

While at the bank, the Protagonists make an error in behavior that could tip-off the bank officials they are not legitimate. But the moment passes.

While at the bank, the Protagonists are locked inside the viewing room. [see more on this, below]

Finally, at the end of the scene, the Protagonists must break OUT of a bank. [Very, very unusual for a thriller].

The contents of the container holds additional clues to finding the object of their search that send the hero and heroine to a foreign country.

The object of their search is a set of physical evidence and documents relating to the divine feminine at the heart of the book.

The Viewing Room

Analysis by John Olsson

In the viewing room at the bankThe Da Vinci Code:

"Langdon and Sophie stepped into another world. The small room before them looked like a lavish sitting room at a fine hotel. Gone were the metal and rivets, replaced with oriental carpets, dark oak furniture, and cushioned chairs. On the broad desk in the middle of the room, two crystal glasses sat beside an opened bottle of Perrier, its bubbles still fizzing. A pewter pot of coffee steamed beside it."

In the viewing room at the bank from Daughter of God

"Ridgeway and Zoe looked silently about them. The room was the size of a luxury hotel room and furnished in much the same way. Besides the sofa and chairs, there was a television set, a rack of current magazines, a small computer terminal displaying financial quotes, and a wet bar stocked with liquor. Ridgeway went to the wet bar, set the wrapped painting down on the counter, and filled a tumbler with water from a chilled bottle of Perrier."

Langdon and Sophie = Ridgeway and Zoe

hotel room...lavish = luxury hotel room

cushioned chairs = sofa and chairs

bottle of Perrier = bottle of Perrier

"Interesting you chose Perrier," Olsson wrote. "I would have imagined most Swiss banks would probably have had Henniez, since Perrier, though owned by Swiss company Nestle, is of course French."

Locked inside the viewing room

DoG: "The door slid shut as firmly and solidly as a vault door. Ridgeway tried the knob. It was locked."

DVC: "Leaving, the banker closed the door behind him and twisted a heavy lock, sealing them inside."

Locking someone inside the viewing room is simply NOT done, NOT standard procedure and, as far as I know, simply does not appear elsewhere in any other books.

34 Comments:

The similarities are remarkable. I mean the characters are doing the same things at the same time. I don't recall the Grail discussion happening in DOG in the same way in the same place. Or I just don't recall it.

DoG doesn't have a parallel Grail discussion ... but Supreme Court Justice Learned Hand said (and this is a paraphrase) that "pointing out all the ways in which two works are different is no excuse for plagiarism."

In other words, a burglar can't defend himself by pointing out all the items he did NOT take.

I am very intrigued with the legal battle between you and Mr. Brown. I have read the "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, and I have read "Daughter of God", "The Da Vinci Legacy" (2004), and I am almost finished "The Linz Testament".

I personally found that "Daughter of God" and "Da Vinci Code" very different in terms of story line and story telling. I enjoyed both, but can't say that I agree on the similarities.

Well, I have a comment on the gold key that is mentioned in various places. The original post says:"The gold key allows access (but does not turn a lock) to a safe deposit box in a Zurich bank."

However, in "Daughter of God", it says that it does open a lock.

p314 of Daughter of God:"Seth held his breath as Mutters inserted first the bank's key and then the one from the painting through the foil seals and into the locks."

So perhaps I am misinterpreting the statement regarding the key. If so, I appologize.Could you please clarify this?

Thank you very much.

By, the way, I'm really enjoying The Linz Testament. I liked the other groups that you included in the book.

Vanessa, the GOLD key in DoG is used to open the vault in the salt mine containing the Sophia Passion. It doesn't turn a lock.

It's a slight variation in something that is nearly identical in sequence, content, action, character motivation and wording. Note that the legal standard for infringement is not "identical" but "substantially similar."

I'm not sure that the "massively complicated mechanism that delivers the contents of the safe deposit box to Langdon and Sofie in the Zurich bank" can be classified as a Rube Goldberg mechanism.

The definition as it appears in the encyclopaedia Britannica:American cartoonist who satirized the American preoccupation with technology. His name became synonymous with any simple process made outlandishly complicated.

The only simpler way to obtain the crate in the subterranean vault (in the DVC) is to have someone physically go get it. The robotic claw that obtains the crate and places it on the conveyor belt is just an automated process.

Vanessa, I am referring to the sequence of events which begins with a gold key hidden in a painting named after the female divinity at the heart of DVC and DoG ... back in the original post (to which these comments belong) the sequence begins:

You can focus on one thing out of context and try to argue it to death, but the fact is that the chances of that sequence and the details -- all in context -- appearing by accident is less believable than little green men.

As Mark pointed out, the differences are minutae ... just the sort of things that plagiarists do to try to hide their crime.

quite frankly, I just don't see why a guy who wrote angels & deamons, deception point and i think another book before the da vinci code, would copy your book.

what strikes me more is that your publisher decided to republish da vinci legacy after dan brown made the da vinci conspiracy-thing popular...

anyway, i don't have the time to go trough all your arguments, so i'm certainly not saying that you're wrong, but i think it would be good if you could make a webpage showing all the things brown copied from your book!

I've had a look at the comparison tables, and I think that quite a few of the items are not as they seem (not in context as well.) So to me, there are quite a few minutiae.

My final point regarding these comparisons is that I enjoyed both books (DVC, DoG), and I don't feel that the books are the same. Yes, there are similarities, but I think any fiction book will have similarities to some book or another. Good luck to both sides.

There are substantial similarities, but the question is how much can another suthor use from another in the way of the plot, chracters, conclusion and premise? The books do read differently, yet the same stuff is occurring even on the same pages in many cases. That seems over the line to me.

I am Jelorie F. Gallego a 4th year high school student. For our english mini-thesis report, we are required to prove something by comparing two authors of our choice. I would like to somehow prove that Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is a plagiarism of your novels, Daughter of God and The Da Vinci Legacy. I have thoroughly done my research however, i found out that I cannot purchase any copy of your books here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I also couldn't find an online copy. I'm afraid that it is also too late and taxing to purchase a copy online. If it is possible, i would very much appreciate if you can e-mail me a detailed summary if not a copy of The Da Vinci Legacy and Daughter of God.

I have some news to contribute to the board. Anyway, the true blood line changed their name to Smith- when they arrived in North America-family secret passed on for sometime- but, as more people in the family became devout Christiains, the legacy of the story became simply thought of as a fabrication. Now, all this is coming out, the story from my ancestors make sense. Also, some of the family chose to keep their name- the real name- that being May- Hence, Mayflower coming to the New World was the ship that arrived here with the secret. The dates are not right with the ship. They, not Puritians, were Pilgrims. Funny to say, but since my family married into Indians- Apocalypto tells a story- truth- some- The end of the story that is the Mayflower- with the Southern Cross- a good thing- The bloodline-which has been perverted for the Southerners and the Civil War. Listen to the song, Southern Cross- Crosby, Stills, and Nash- God's wife is the Word- The Muse- I just so happen to know where the family is- I don't expect for you to belive me- WHen the time is right, all will be known. Little extra to add in- Now, The Mormoms, not the Catholics, are the richest orgainization in the world- Why is that? Because Joseph Smith and the Masons were best friends- now get this- The Mormoms and genaology- they know the truth- They blackmail everyone now- the Catholics- the Masons- the government- Why else would they have a state that is all theirs? Church and State are always one- Look for the truth soon! Another fact- movie stranger than fiction- when the artist is writing it- may be fiction to them but somewhere fact for someone- many instances of this-